"But the cow's out of the barn. It doesn't matter who opened the barn door or when or why. The damage has been done."
"And have your superiors ordered you to work with Duffy?"
Castillo hesitated before replying.
"Okay. Truth time. I have not asked my superior. But I'm going to call Duffy, very soon, and tell him that I have been ordered to do whatever he wants me to do."
"You're taking that responsibility on yourself?"
"I have been ordered to get an American Drug Enforcement Administration agent back from his kidnappers. The order carried with it the authority to do whatever I have to do to get him-his name is Timmons-back. There is no point in me calling my superior when I know his answer will be to do whatever I have to do."
Ordonez nodded.
"Colonel," he said, "let me tell you about my superior, superiors. Nominally, I am under the authority of the minister of the interior. But when a situation has international implications, I get my directions from the foreign minister as well. Actually-for purposes of credible deniability-I get them from Deputy Foreign Minister Alvarez.
"It was Alvarez who decided with me that it was in the best interests of Uruguay to ascribe the murder of Lorimer at his estancia, the murders of Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Zhdankov of the FSB and Howard Kennedy in Punta del Este, and of course the deaths of Major Vincenzo and his five friends at Shangri-La to internecine warfare in the drug business.
"I don't know-and don't want to know-what, if anything, Alvarez told the foreign minister about what we had done, but there was no pressure from either the Foreign Ministry or the Interior Ministry on me to zealously pursue the people responsible for all those deaths." He paused, then added, "Which, of course, would have included you and your men.
"It seemed to be the best solution to the problem. While murder is a terrible crime, no Uruguayans had been murdered. Kennedy and Zhdankov were buried beside Vincenzo and the others in graves marked 'Unknown' in the Sacred Heart of Jesus church cemetery in Tacuarembo.
"David Yung-through the American embassy-was repatriating the remains of Lorimer, and it seemed unlikely that the Russians or the Cubans would ask questions about Zhdankov or Vincenzo. And you and I had the little chat in which I suggested you should leave Uruguay and not come back soon. When you agreed to do so, I thought the matter was closed.
"I was wrong about that, of course. The day before Duffy called me-two days before he came here-Alvarez told me our ambassador in Washington had called him to report that Senator Homer Johns…"-he paused and looked at Castillo to see if he knew who he was talking about, and when Castillo nodded, went on-"…to ask him what he could tell him-officially or otherwise-about the death of Lorimer, or if he had heard anything about your Special Forces having conducted an operation in Uruguay."
"And what did the ambassador tell him?" Castillo asked.
"That Lorimer was involved in the drug trade, and that he had heard nothing about Special Forces operating secretly in Uruguay. The senator then asked him to discreetly inquire again, and the ambassador agreed to do so.
"As it happens, the ambassador and I are old friends-Uruguay is a small country, and we have a saying, 'Don't worry if you don't know someone, he'll marry into your family by the end of the week.' But the ambassador and I are friends from school, and you'll remember it was he who I turned to for help in identifying the 7.62mm National Match cartridge case we found at Shangri-La.
"So, unofficially, I called him to see what else Senator Johns had had on his mind. He told me that the senator had told him he'd gone to see Ambassador Charles W. Montvale, who as your director of National Intelligence could be presumed to know about such things, and that Montvale had denied any prior knowledge of Lorimer's involvement in the drug trade and denied any knowledge of a Special Forces operation in Uruguay."
Ordonez looked more intensely at Castillo.
"I've always suspected Montvale is the man you answer to, Colonel. Do you?"
Castillo shook his head.
"I thought we were agreed to tell one another the truth," Ordonez said.
"I don't work for Ambassador Montvale."
"For whom, then? The secretary of Defense?"
Castillo shook his head again.
"Ah, then, the secretary of State," Ordonez said, clearly pleased with himself. "Of course. I should have thought of that. It explains a great deal. The authority you wielded in your embassy in Buenos Aires; the decision to keep Ambassador McGrory in the dark about your operation."
"I don't work for Secretary Cohen, either," Castillo said.
Ordonez's face showed that not only did he not believe that, but that the denial offended him.
Munz caught that, and said, "He doesn't, Jose."
"Well, who does he work for? Do you know?"
Munz was quiet a moment, then laughed.
"Yes, I do," he said. "But if I told you, I'd have to kill you."
"What did you say?" Ordonez asked incredulously.
"It's a useful phrase I've learned working for Carlos," Munz said.
"It's not said seriously?"
"You never know, Jose," Munz said. "You're not going to put it to the test, are you?"
"I may not be Sherlock Holmes," Ordonez said to Castillo, "but after we eliminate Montvale and your secretaries of State and Defense, there's not many people left, are there, from whom you could be taking orders?"
"What else did you learn from your old pal the ambassador?" Castillo asked, ignoring the question.
Ordonez looked at him for a long moment, as if deciding whether or not to pursue the question of who gave Castillo his authority and orders. Finally, he said: "He said that he had the distinct feeling that Senator Johns would like nothing more than proof that there had been a secret Special Forces operation in Uruguay and that Montvale had lied to him about it."
"Perhaps he doesn't like Ambassador Montvale. A lot of people don't," Castillo said. "I don't like him much myself. But I would hate to see him embarrassed by Senator Johns."
"And so would I," Ordonez said. "Because that would mean the decision Alvarez and I made about everything would come to light. The Cubans-and probably the Russians, too-would go to the United Nations to righteously denounce Uruguay-"
"I get the picture," Castillo interrupted. "And you're right, of course."
"-for not only permitting the imperialist Yankees to send their infamous Special Forces to murder innocent Cuban tourists and Czechoslovakian businessmen on Uruguayan soil, but then to shamelessly deny it."
Castillo was silent for a moment, then he said: "Just for the record…oh, hell."
"Go on," Ordonez said.
"I was going to split a hair," Castillo said. "My people at Shangri-La were not all Special Forces. It was not an SF unit that was sent here."
"I don't think, whatever the legalities, that anyone will believe that."
"That's what I decided. And the people who came here now to rescue Timmons are bona fide Special Forces."
"They're already here?"
"Just about all of them," Castillo said. "And the helicopter pilots are from the 160th-the Special Operations Aviation Regiment."
"And the helicopters, too, presumably?"
"No. I got the helicopters from a graveyard. By the time they get here, they'll be cleaned and black-"
"'Cleaned and black'?" Ordonez parroted.
"Anything that could indicate they belong to the U.S. Army will be removed. And they'll be painted in the color scheme used by the Argentine Army. They'll be more or less identical to the Hueys the Argentines are flying."
"And if nothing goes wrong and you manage to rescue your man without murdering everyone whoever so much as talked to the narcos, how do you plan to get your men and the helicopters out of Argentina or Paraguay?"
If he's not going to let me use Shangri-La to bring the choppers in, Castillo thought, what the hell does he care about the details of what's-not-to-happen?
What the hell is he hinting at?
"The men will leave the same way they came in, as tourists. I haven't given much thought to the helicopters."